HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, Ethics and the Media in Botswana

Abstract

The focus of this article is human rights, ethics and the media in the context of the challenges posed by HIV/ AIDS. Its basic premise is that an effective HIV / AIDS prevention programme cannot succeed if it is not aided by the media that is conscious of the human rights dimension of the epidemic. The paper argues that stigmatisation and discrimination of persons with HIV/AIDS should be rejected as prejudicial to health, for the simple reason that such discrimination would force people with HIV to go underground and in the worst case scenario, could lead to deliberate transmission of the virus as a reaction to societal hostility.